Belong
by Seitei
Summary: The life and times of a sympathetic villain protagonist. Before, during, and after "Middle Man."
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys, I'm writing again. While you may remember me from the Super Smash Bros archives, I've decided to take a break and try something new: writing a story like this. Hope you guys enjoy it! For anyone who is confused about the protagonist, please refer to the episode "Middle Man."**

When I was growing up, I had always wanted to do something big, something that would make people remember me for years. Since I lived in a small town in Indiana, that meant everyone knew everyone. I had planned to move to a bigger city when I was old enough.

I always enjoyed school. Like every other kid, my friends grew up with me. I got things pretty easily: math, English, and science. I'll admit, I was quite a nerd back in elementary school. My friends always came to me for help, and it was always great, giving them the answers in a beat. I was king of the world.

Unfortunately, life at home was an entirely different story. Everyone was wary of my father. When I was nine, my mom finally left and never came back. She wouldn't even return for me; she left immediately, saving her own skin before mine. My teachers and friends noticed the strange bruises I always came to school with; they never asked, but they suspected. But of course, they couldn't, or rather, wouldn't, get themselves involved. After all, when your father's the sheriff of the town, that's to be expected.

Being abused has a strange effect on people. They try to help you, but when they find out just how much they couldn't help, they withdraw; either out of pity or fear, I don't know. By the time I got into junior high, the only "friends" I had were the few classmates that asked me what the homework was.

As I was about to go into senior high, I started... experimenting. There were a few guys, the shady ones mom and dad always told me to avoid at school, who beckoned me over one spring afternoon. They handed me a joint and told me to "smoke it." The taste was horrible and my nose burned. And yet, it felt tranquil at the same time. For once in many years, I felt at peace.

Around that time, I also started getting into brawls. I don't remember exactly why I got into them, but the charges racked up like flies on a piece of rotting meat. But by the time I was in college, my dad pulled some strings and erased all my charges from my juvenile record. That let me go to college. I guess deep down, past all the beatings, he still loved me. After I graduated from senior high, I cut myself off from crack and shit like that. I applied to Ernstrom College, and my father, well, he nodded approvingly. "Christopher Salters, you are growing up. You're going to be a fine man, son."

Who knew that college would ever change my life around, for the worse, yet ultimately, for the better?


	2. Chapter 2

The main campus building looms in front of me. To my left are the dorms. They're not co-ed, but it doesn't stop this one guy from making out with who I think is his girlfriend on the fifth floor of one of them. All my stuff is in my rolling suitcase; I don't have a lot, so I'll deal with my room later. The key's in my pocket, and besides, I have an ominous feeling that I'm going to be late and get off on the wrong foot with one of my professors.

With my schedule in front of me, I look for my first class. Chemistry 101. Not bad. I think I'll ace that class. Along the way, I pass by a large banner on the wall, splattered with glittering gold paint and bold red letters spelling out "Welcome to Ernstrom College!" I smile. Well, at least they seem to be pretty welcoming. This is going to be a great year.

The laboratory for Chemistry is large. From the front of the classroom to the back, I can count twenty rows of benches in three columns. None of the other students are here yet; the only other person in the room is a middle-aged man who sports a small goatee. "Hi there." He sticks his hand out for me to shake. "I'm Professor Davies."

I take his hand and give it a firm grip. "Nice to meet you, sir. Christopher Salters, but Chris is fine with me."

"Salters... that sounds familiar. Is your father-"

"Jeff Salters. Yes, my father's the sheriff of the county." I grin sheepishly. He grins back.

"I'm going to let you know I'm not going to go easy on you, just cause your father's keeping the peace in Johnson County." I nod, and walk over to the middle bench in the second row and no sooner do I place my stuff on the tabletop do the other students begin filing in. They seem to come from all over the place. There's a few that appear incredibly pretentious with their high-end clothes, a few that seem to have crawled out from their beds five minutes ago, but most of them look quite normal. This girl, who just comes up to my eyes, sits next to me and introduces herself.

"Hi!" She sticks her hand out as the customary greeting. "My name's Jen."

"Chris." As I take her hand, I notice how soft it is. Her slender fingers grip mine, and I feel a warmth pulsing through them. We let go and look towards Professor Davies, who is busy greeting students as they walk in. When the last guy, some pale-faced long-haired boy takes his seat, we pay our attention to the prof, who's already begun to lay out the outline and rules of the class. Glancing around, I see that a fair share of my classmates don't even bother listening. Already I see the girl behind me start texting on her phone. She looks up and glares at me, telling me silently that I'd better keep my mouth shut. Behind her and to the left is a guy with his head down, two plastic snakes slithering out from his ears. I don't think I've ever had an MP3, myself. Gotta think about getting one.

Meanwhile, Jen is paying one hundred percent of her attention to the professor, who's talking about the basics of chemistry as a recap. Words such as "molecules" and "equilibrium" momentarily activate my brain to lessons the previous year. The next thing I know, I'm taking notes while the animated slides on the projector supplement Davies' explanations, molecules crashing into one another before they slowly begin to pull apart.

The time whittles away slowly, and by the time the bell rings, it's already 11:30 AM and most of my classmates are already out the door. Jen's packing up her stuff and soon says goodbye to me and walks out. My stomach gives a little grumble, telling me to submit to hunger and grab something to eat soon.

Bidding farewell to Davies, I make my way towards the cafeteria. There's a lot of food imaginable, but the thing I have in mind that's the most appealing are the little mini pizzas on sale. Buying one from the cashier, I take a bite into it. The taste of tomato dances on my tongue as I set my books down on the table. I notice Jen pass by my table talking to some other girls. She's actually quite cute, I think. I glance down at my watch. It's almost time to go to my next class: anthropology. I'm not sure if this is even pertinent to any interests I have, but I decided on it, and hey, I can always drop it after this term.

Anthropology is a strange class. The back of the room curves outwards, nothing like any of the other classrooms on campus. It's quite a bit smaller than my earlier class, and the tables and chairs are arranged differently. There are six round tables in a hexagonal formation, with six chairs around each. I must have been lucky to have gotten into this class. Some people are already here. Nothing special about them; just some more generic classmates. The teacher isn't here yet, and I take a seat at the table closest by the windows.

The teacher's a woman. She seems to be a strict woman; her movements are sharp and defined. Her nose is somewhat pointed, and her hair's done up in a bun. "Good afternoon, class." She turns to all of us and smiles. Guess she isn't that scary.

The class isn't that bad. She starts us on some of the more well-known ancient cultures. It feels like less than half an hour when the bell rings and all of us get up and file out towards the door. It's three already. About time too, cause I'm getting tired of lugging this suitcase around.

The dorms are in very good shape. Maybe it's the start of the year, but I don't see any spills or trash in the hallways that I've heard so much of. Thankfully, it comes with an elevator, but with my room being on the second floor, I decide to use the stairs. Let's see... room 218. Here we go. I unlock the door and enter.

It's bare. The walls are chalk-white. In fact, almost everything is white, save for the cedar work desk in the corner. There's a computer on it (probably with good Internet; at least, that's what the housing application told me), but I highly doubt I'll use it that much, except for some big assignments and maybe the occasional porn (hey, shoot me for being just like any other guy). There is a small kitchen right next to the door, and it's going to be the cleanest part of my room, cause I'm probably never ever gonna use it.

I set my suitcase next to the bed. I'm going to unpack later. For now, I'm going to just lie on my bed and stare at the ceiling. It was a pretty busy day today, and I think I'm going to look forward to tomorrow.

Yessir, college life is good.


	3. Chapter 3

It's now the middle of October. After leaving my morning class, I pass by the giant announcement board in the hallway right outside the office. Many of the papers littering the board are ads for first-year tutors and clubs, but one large poster in the middle dominates the rest. It's from the Kappa Iota Phi fraternity and past the flashy, poorly-spelt sentences that were probably written while drunk they're currently looking for some new members. I'm excited. What better way is there to get involved in the community than by joining this brotherhood?

I walk over to the building as four PM passes by. It's not a large building, only two stories tall, but it has evidently seen much "use." There's a portion of the wall boarded up with pasted papers of some band that had a gig a while back and there are stains which I could barely make out. The raucous laughter and hooting of guys blast into my ears as I enter. It's easy to tell who the brothers and who the pledges are: there were some guys who are playing pool, watching the baseball game on TV, and a few other around a small herd of younger men, whispering amongst themselves. I quietly make my way into the group.

A guy with a trimmed moustache and small beard sneers at us. "So! You little shits think you're man enough to join Kappa Iota Phi? Well I'm just going to say that that's going to change soon enough. My name's Michael and I'm gonna be your pledgemaster. You'll be put through some of the toughest challenges you'll ever live to face. So who's ready for this?" No one says a word. He looks around again. "No, huh?" he scoffs. "That's it, all you pansies can go home now."

I've come this far and I'm not turning back. I step forward, swallowing a mouthful of saliva. I hope the frat bro in front of me didn't notice. He smirks. "Alright, then. Looks like one of you actually have the balls to be one of us. Maybe. What's your name?"

"Chris." He smirks. He looks me over and stares right into me. If he's checking for fear then he's doing a good job of pretending he doesn't notice.

"Alright, at least one of you ladies have manned up. Anybody else?" He circles us like a rabid wolf waiting for one of the weaker lambs in the flock to break rank and run. A few others meekly join me. "Huh, guess we'll give all of you a shot, hmm?" He turns to another member who gives him a nod. "Okay. Come back in three days and we'll give you a task. If you can't pass, you don't deserve to call yourself a proud brother of Kappa Iota Phi. Dismissed!"

I swiftly leave, though not as fast as some of the other pledges-to-be. Glancing at the clock tower in the distance, only half an hour passed. I blink; it seemed much shorter than that. Four-thirty PM, huh. I'm not hungry yet, though. Perhaps a little bit of studying won't hurt.

I walk back towards my dorm. The yellow and orange leaves littered all over the campus grounds crunch and crack at my feet. "Hey Chris!" I turn around.

"Jen?" She's some few yards away from me. It's been quite some time since I last saw her in chemistry class; she switched seats every time, talking to new people around her. I feel a little… forgotten. "What's up?"

"Oh, nothing, just wondering how you've been." She walks up to me.

"Pretty good. Anthropology's getting more complicated, so I gotta crack open the books." She laughs.

"Or maybe you were cracking open the Captain Morgan, huh."

I roll my eyes. "Very funny. I might take you up on that."

"On a Tuesday night? I'd love to see that." I chuckle half-heartedly. "Anyway, I was wondering; would you like to go out for dinner with a few friends on Friday night?"

Friends. "Friday, huh? Sorry Jen, can't make that. I've got something else on that day."

She pokes me. "More important than eating some good Italian food with people our age?"

"I'd say so. Sorry, I'll call you when I have time." She rolls her eyes and puffs her cheeks up, like a squirrel with nuts in her mouth. She gives me a wry smile and waves goodbye before walking away. What was I going to do again? Right, studying for that Anthro quiz in two days. Guess I'll be pulling an all-nighter…

Three days have gone by and today is the day where I'll be tested to see if I have what it takes to be a Kappa Iota Phi brother. I'm back in the lounge. Every pledge from the other day has shown up.

Michael's back as well and for an instant I swear I see his eyes widen in surprise before reverting back into his cocky glance. "So all of you decided to man up and come back, huh? I'll tell you all one thing, and that's you all got balls. What we're going to do is not a big deal. It might hurt a little, but you're all tough enough, right?" A few of us nod nervously. His eyes are trained on me again.

"Right, then." He looks to the brothers and exchanges coded grins with them. I gulp nervously. When he turns back, the look that he gives us is familiar to me. When I was in middle school, there was another boy, Jake, if I remember his name correctly; he was a popular kid and vicious. Everyone learned to steer clear of him and whoever he laid his eyes on wouldn't show up to school on the next day in fear of having a few ribs broken. "What you're all going to do is the elephant walk."

"Wait, elephant walk?" a scrawny guy behind me protests. "That's wrong, dude, just wrong." A few others nod in agreement. "Isn't that illegal?"

"Yeah," another adds. "I don't like to have stinky thumbs."

"You shitheads got a problem with it, there's the door." The scrawny guy glances toward the exit and walks out briskly. He's followed by more than half of the group, many of them with looks of disgust. Michael scoffs as the door slams behind the last one out.

I look at the other pledges, many of which silently say "what have I gotten myself into?" I'm wondering that too, but it's too late for regrets now. My train of thought's interrupted by Michael, laughing his guts out, which really doesn't help.

"Did you see the look on their faces? Priceless!" he snickered. "Relax!" he assures us. "We're not that crazy." A collective sigh fills the room. "What we'll be really doing is paddling." No one breathes as two huge dudes silently take out rowing oars.

It's not as bad as it looks, I tell myself. How much more painful can a paddle be than a belt?

**A/N: Well I finally updated in God knows how long. The aforementioned rituals have been practiced and should not be done as they are illegal. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!**


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